Who bears the burden of proving a failure to mitigate damages?

• A. The nonbreaching party
• B. The court
• C. The breaching party
• D. Both parties

Answer: (C)

The key idea is that after a breach there is a duty to mitigate damages—the harmed party must take reasonable steps to limit their losses. The burden to show failure to mitigate rests on the party who caused the breach. In other words, the breaching party must prove that the nonbreaching party could have avoided damages by reasonable means and failed to do so. This allocation prevents the breaching party from escaping liability for avoidable losses, and it motivates the party in breach to prove how any missed mitigation affected the damage amount. For example, if a supplier breaches, the supplier would need to show that the buyer could have procured substitute goods at a lower cost but did not; if mitigation was reasonable and attempted, damages are measured by actual losses minus those avoided through mitigation.